You don’t need a special tool to remove a ball-joint stud. Loosen the castellated nut several turns. Now all you need are two heavy ball-peen hammers of equal weight. Strike the support with the other hammer. Several hard blows should loosen the ball joint. Remove the castellated nut, and take the stud out of its support.
This method is not only relatively easy; it does not damage the rubber grease boot – important if the ball joint is to be reused. Caution: When removing upper or lower ball joints, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for compressing springs; otherwise, injury could result.
'Tech Tip – Removing Ball Joint Studs' have 3 comments
April 28, 2015 @ 8:05 am Matthew
It appears to me that the fourth sentence was omitted from the article. It would make more sense if there was a sentence saying something like: “Hold one hammer firmly against the support.” Then, “Strike the support with the other hammer.”
April 28, 2015 @ 7:33 pm Alan Prior
I have been using the “2 hammer” method of removing ball joints for years (too many to count) This quite often works on “frozen”nuts not just ball joints
April 29, 2015 @ 4:20 am Graeme
More effective method is to use a heavy sledge as the supporting hammer and strike with a lower weight hammer.